There are audiovisual systems provided with a reproduction apparatus such as a DVD player, a television receiver, and an amplifier. The reproduction apparatus reproduces content that includes a video signal and an audio signal and has been recorded on a recording medium such as an optical disc. The television receiver displays a video signal that has been reproduced with the reproduction apparatus on a display, and outputs an audio signal to a built-in speaker. The amplifier outputs an audio signal to an externally attached speaker.
In the above audiovisual system, when viewing/listening to content recorded on a recording medium, it is necessary for a user to perform a plurality of operations, such as powering on the reproduction apparatus and the television receiver, and switching input of each apparatus to a desired state.
A method for reducing this plurality of operations is proposed in Patent Document 1. FIG. 4 shows the schematic structure of an audiovisual system VAS 2 in which the method of Patent Document 1 is adopted. FIG. 4 shows an example in which the amplifier is omitted in order to make the description easier to understand, and the system is configured with a television receiver (below, abbreviated as TV) 10 and a DVD player 20 that is one type of reproduction apparatus.
The TV 10 includes a tuner 11, a video/audio output unit 12, an input source selection unit 13, and a control unit 14. The tuner 11 receives a broadcast signal. The video/audio output unit 12 performs necessary processing on a video signal and an audio signal and outputs them to a display and a built-in speaker. The input source selection unit 13 switches and outputs an input signal from the tuner 11 and an input signal from the DVD player 20. The control unit 14 controls each of the above units.
The DVD player 20 includes an optical disc control unit 22, a video/audio processing unit 23, and a control unit 24. The optical disc control unit 22 reads content that has been recorded on the optical disc 21. The video/audio processing unit 23 performs necessary processing on the content that has been read with the optical disc control unit 22 and reproduces a video signal and an audio signal. The control unit 24 controls each of the above units.
Next is a simple description of operation of the above conventional audiovisual system VAS 2. When the optical disc 21 is loaded in the DVD player 20, the optical disc control unit 22 reads the content that has been recorded on the optical disc 21. The video/audio processing unit 23 performs necessary processing on the content that has been read and reproduces a video signal and an audio signal, and sends the reproduced video signal and audio signal to the TV 10. On the other hand, the control unit 24 generates a control signal, and sends that control signal to the control unit 14 of the TV 10. This control signal is generated by a method such as setting the electric potential of a signal line connected to the DVD player 20 to a predetermined value.
When the control unit 14 receives the control signal sent from the control unit 24 of the DVD player 20, the TV 10 switches the input of the input source selection unit 13 from the tuner 11 to the DVD player 20. Due to switching of the input of the input source selection unit 13, the video signal and the audio signal that have been output from the audio/video processing unit 23 of the DVD player 20 are input to the video/audio output unit 12.
Due to the TV 10 automatically switching input according to the reproduction state of the DVD player 20 in this manner, it is possible to view/listen to content reproduced with the DVD player 20 without the user switching the input of the TV 10.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-51547